Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled I had lost 100 pounds. But I didn't suddenly know my purpose or feel my life had meaning or view my circumstances with a new lens or think I was now beautiful. Every doubt, worry, or longing I had before I lost weight was still there. I wish I had known that's how things would end up being.

My fight continues. I will earn my happiness. I will earn my body. One victory at a time. I don't have it all figured out and probably never will. My journey is imperfect, and that's the beauty of it. I'm just like every other woman out there trying to lose weight. I'm perfectly imperfect.

I was fortunate enough to befriend and get inspired by a 76-year-old neighbor who became like a grandmother to me in this challenging time. She worked out every day at a gym, walked at the park, was in fantastic health and told me of the promise for my future if I would just change my mindset.

You see, through all the years before, I had been on weight loss jags for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes it was connected to what others might think of me or wanting to be attractive to others. Sometimes it was out of momentary frustration that my slacks kept shrinking in the closet.

These are just a sample of the rogues gallery of conmen scheming to pick your pocket. Worse than stealing from you, they keep you from using the real solution to your weight problem while sending you on a goose chase that will leave you feeling hopeless.

Wanting, even with all your heart, to lose weight does not make it happen, as anyone with a stubborn weight problem knows. Hopefully, it won't take you 20 years to learn what I learned. You can learn it from me!

Mothers are the most important and most powerful people in the world related to solving our childhood obesity epidemic. The only way an obese child can change is if the home and family changes, and that will only happen when mom says it will.

I yelled at him and told him he did not love me. Love would not notice the 300 pounds my 5'3" frame carried. Confused, he just stared at me; he knew more than anyone how desperately I wanted and needed to lose weight. He alone knew all my secrets. He heard my disappointments. He hoped for my future.

Some people have been described as fearless. Heroes. Fire fighters. Soldiers. Their success has not been because they were fearless. It was because they had something that overcame the fear, that replaced and overpowered it.

There are a lot of pieces of the weight loss puzzle and you'll need them all in place to make it work. But your faith is a big piece of the puzzle. Having the right faith will open the door to them and set you on the path to their fulfillment.

We have an obesity epidemic that is out of control because of something that has changed in the last 50 years of our eons of evolution -- recent changes in our culture and behavior. Drugs and surgery won't change that.